There are few rethinkings of heritage ballets more thorough or intense than Akram Khan’s shatteringly powerful Giselle. First seen in 2016, with its conceptual energy and emotional heft, English National Ballet’s show returns as a modern classic.
In the OG Giselle from 1841, a young peasant dies broken-hearted, but nonetheless saves her betrayer from vengeful spirits. Khan and his team refract the plot through contemporary frets. The settled countryfolk become ‘outcasts’: migrant workers, gusted on the tides of global capitalism. Giselle is unaware that her lover Albrecht is from the exploitative landlord caste.
